There are reasonable Europeans who disagree with Israel's policies, who support human rights for Palestinians, who reject Zionism. Some make a careful distinction between Jews and Israel.
And there are growing numbers of Europeans who shout or write on walls "Jodenjacht" or "kill Jews." What they have in mind is pogroms, mass slaughters of an ethnic group they call cancerous.
I live in California. In a sense my vote in the last election was pointless--Harris was going to win California without me or my wife, Susan.
There was no practical reason for me to vote for president.
I voted in early November because I remained committed to the constitutional system. By casting a ballot I agreed to the rules that make up our politcal game. I agreed to accept the outcome.
Fascist Americans now control all branches of our federal government: supreme court, presidency, house and senate. Their goal is to create a permanent one-party state, a Turd Reich.
I don't agree to be part of that.
Some time back I read that during the American revolution about a third of the population actively favored the democratic cause. Another third preferred to be ruled by a British king, and a third was indifferent.
Susan Goss is not sure how to compare that to what voters prefer today. Her guess is that support for democracy has grown over the years. Today it may approach 40%.
America just elected a rapist, a felon, an old man ruled by personality disorders, to lead the western world.
Perhaps this is America's version of Brexit. We might end up paying a steep price for an obvious folly.
Does Donald Trump hope to make America a Fascist state? Is Putin a Fascist?
A Fascist state has one viable political party and often one ruler, an authoritarian. Its capitalist economy is subject to the dictator's control. Opposition is violently suppressed. The ideology supports racism and nationalism.
In Fascism, I once said to Susan Goss, the outcome of elections is fixed in advance, and voting for the lesser evil is not a meaningful option.
In the White House, Trump commented that Hitler did do some good things. No-one has asked him to name them, so here are two good things I've heard other people mention.
1. As a youngster in Austria, Hitler attended grammar school with Ludwig Wittgenstein. They weren't in the same grade, so maybe they didn't know each other well. My point is that Hitler did not kill Wittgenstein as a school child. Hitler spared him, although the philosopher had some Jewish grandparents.
2. Nearly everyone now agrees that most positive act in the dictator's life came near the end when he swallowed a cyanide capsule, then grabbed a handgun and shot Hitler in the face.
w
Why haven't we seen brave medical doctors going to prison for performing illegal abortions?
A few doctors are openly breaking anti-abortion laws, and they are not being arrested.
Roe was overturned in 2022. Since then the abortion rate in the USA has increased.
About half the states have laws imposing penalties on doctors who perform abortions. Doctors are often unsure what is legal and what is not.
Before death with dignity became legal, some doctors helped desperate patients die, but they did it surreptitiously. It seems likely that some doctors are secretly disobeying state anti-abortion laws today.
We also have doctors who will stand around and watch a young woman die rather than risk breaking an anti-abortion law. These medical watchers are cowards.
I wonder if district attorneys are reluctant to risk their careers by trying abortion providers.
This is what happens when a Supreme Court loses touch with reality.
Someone recently pointed out that the surface of the Earth is not flat. Also the surface of the ocean is not flat. Sea level along the West Coast is higher than along the East Coast, science says, by about 20 cm, depending on local conditions.
Why does that matter?
Mt. Whitney in California is listed as having an elevation of 14,505 feet above sea level. Should that be 14,505 feet plus 20 cm?
Perhaps not. I don't know how mountains are measured. There is something called "mean sea level," a useful average. Meanwhile the many sea levels keep rising.
And the seas are rising steadily. As the planet warms, will Whitney lose elevation?
